Drainage bag tube stabilizer

ABSTRACT

A drainage bag for collecting urine is provided with a plastic tab connected to its upper edge, said tab being provided with an aperture through which the drainage tube is threaded.

United States Patent inventor Daniel M. McWhorter Arlington Heights, Ill.

Appl. No. 730,302

Filed May 20, 1968 Patented Apr. 13, 1971 Assignee The Kendall Company Boston, Mass.

DRAINAGE BAG TUBE STABILIZER 1 Claim, 1 Drawing Fig.

US. Cl 4/110, 128/295 Int. Cl A61g 9/00 Field of Search 4/ 1 10;

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Muller Cornwell Buono Overment Serany et a1.

Primary Examiner-William F. ODea Assistant ExaminerRichard J. Sher Attorney.lohn F. Ryan threaded.

Patenfed A ril 13, 1911 y 3 3,574,868

DRAINAGE BAG TUBE STABILIZER This invention relates to a stabilizing means for maintaining a drainage tube in a bedside drainage bag or the like. More particularly it relates to a means for maintaining an inlet tube in a substantially fixed angular relationship to a drainage bag.

Urinary drainage bags are commonly suspended from the side of a hospital bed, and are provided with a length of flexible tubing leading to a catheter which is inserted in the patient. In order for such a combination to function properly, it is necessary that fluid be able to flow readily by gravity from the patient into the drainage bag. The formation of pockets of fluid in the tube not only impedes drainage, but. has been suspected to be a potential source of retrograde infection. It is recognized that it is desirable to keep drainage tube urine separate from drainage bag urine.

Recognition of this has led to the devising of means for stabilizing the relationship of the drainage tube to the bag, so that the free flow of fluid is always encouraged. Such devices include specially formed wire hangers, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,090,968, or plastic clips affixed to the body of the bag, as set forth in US. Pat. No. 3,251,069. Such devices add to the expense of the assembly, and require special care and extra steps in the fabrication of the bag. ln is with improvements in this art that the present invention is concerned.

It is an object of this invention to provide a stabilization means for guiding a drainage tube into a drainage bag. lt is a further object of this invention to provide such a device of an economical and expedient nature, demanding a minimum of added material and fabrication.

The present invention contemplates the partial prolongation of the body of the drainage bag above and beyond the conventional straight-line upper edge, to form a tab or projection provided with an aperture through which the drainage tube is threaded. The invention will be better understood with reference to the drawing, in which:

The FIGURE is a partially broken away view of the stabilizing means of this invention, together with the drainage tube, suspension cord, and part of the drainage bag.

Referring now to the FIGURE, a drainage bag is shown, partly broken away, as consisting of two sheets of plastic 12 and I4, sealed together along their peripheries. The bag is provided with a drainage tube 16, leading into a plastic drip tube 18 sealed to the upper portion of the face of the bag. The drainage tube 16 may be positioned centrally with respect to the drainage bagi.e., equidistant from the side edges-or it may be positioned off the central axis of the bag, toward or at one of the edges. The bag is also provided with a suspension cord 20 and clamp 22, for attaching the bag and tubing to the side of a bed or other convenient location. A reinforcing bar 24 is affixed horizontally along the upper edge of the bag, to

guard against lateral distortion or sagging of the bag when in use. The foregoing details are more or less conventional.

The plastic sheet material used to form the bag may be of any of the heat-sealable thermoplastic polymersfsuch as polyolefin, polyurethane, polyvinyl chloride, and the like. The sheets are heat-sealed together around their edges, as shown at 26.

The bag is conveniently formed from a pair of superimposed blanks of plastic sealed together by a heated die. Projecting upwardly from the top edge is a tab portion of plastic sheet, preferably continuous and integral with the main body of the bag. Located on the centralvertical axis of the tab is an aperture 30 with reinforcing rim 32, said rim being formed preferably by the pressure of the heated die which is employed to seal the blanks 12 and 14 together.

The aperture 30 should have a diameter about equal to or slightly larger than the outside diameter of the drainage tube 16 which is to be accommodated therein. lt will be found that when the plastic film of which the bag walls are composed is between 0.005 and 0.010 inch thick, the resultant 0.010- 0.020-inch thickness of the tab portion 28 is sufficient to provide a firm support for the drainage tube threaded therethrougth, while being flexible enou h to accommodate drainage tu es of slightly varying sizes. T ere IS thus provided a stabilizing means for a drainage tube which maintains said tube in a vertical position with relation to the bag in normal usage. The provision of a stabilizing means of this sort is effected with economy, and since the stabilizing tab is integral with and a part of the plastic blanks forming the faces of the bag, a single die-pressing operation will form both the bag and the stabilizing means.

lclaim: 1. A urine-collecting drainage bag assembly which comprises:

a plastic collection bag and a drip tube sealed to the upper portion thereof; said drip tube comprising a vertically mounted cylindrical chamber having affixed therein at its upper portion a plastic drainage tube; said drainage tube being of a smaller diameter than said cylindrical chamber; the bag being formed of two layers of plastic material heat sealed about its free edges to form the bag; and a tab formed of the same two layers and extending upwardly from the upper edge of the bag, said tab layers being heat sealed together; and said tab having an aperture therein through which the drainage tube is threaded, said aperture being positioned below the upper edge of the tab and substantially vertically above the drip tube. 

1. A urine-collecting drainage bag assembly which comprises: a plastic collection bag and a drip tube sealed to the upper portion thereof; said drip tube comprising a vertically mounted cylindrical chamber having affixed therein at its upper portion a plastic drainage tube; said drainage tube being of a smaller diameter than said cylindrical chamber; the bag being formed of two layers of plastic material heat sealed about its free edges to form the bag; and a tab formed of the same two layers and extending upwardly from the upper edge of the bag, said tab layers being heat sealed together; and said tab having an aperture therein through which the drainage tube is threaded, said aperture being positioned below the upper edge of the tab and substantially vertically above the drip tube. 